Daily Devotional – June 2, 2020

is going well and you're keeping cool or keeping your cool maybe a little bit of both.

I'm done counting. I'm not gonna count any more COVID related days.

I think you know 10 weeks of that is enough and after all that crisis has been completely supplanted by yet another one.

So no longer counting the COVID days. Have you noticed there's not really a whole lot of humor going on lately?

You know a couple of months ago is like all over the place. There were jokes about you know no toilet paper, jokes about being stuck at home and you know husbands and wives and all that kind of stuff.

There's not a whole lot of that going on anymore. It's been been pretty quiet but I do have a friend on Facebook who every day he's posting memes that have that are humorous and quite a few of them have to do with coffee of all things.

You get the impression that the guy really loves coffee. So for example he says this, he says I like to take long romantic walks to the coffee maker and coffee if you're not shaking you need another cup or how about this one

I just need to finish this cup of coffee then I'll be ready for more coffee.

Reminds me of a sign I saw I think it was in a gift shop in Brown County Indiana years ago related to coffee and it said this it said warning unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy.

So keep those kids keep those kids near. Well anyway I I'm sure that the the somber mood in the nation right now over the crises plural is pretty well taking its toll.

I saw that quite evident last night on the news and I turned it on just a little before nine and caught the last few minutes of Sean Hannity and before going into the next program and in those closing moments of his broadcast

Hannity was of course covering all the rioting and chaos going on in so many of our cities and he was obviously upset.

He was also pretty angry and even admitted that his heart was really stirred up over what's going on and the tepid response of the governors and mayors of the cities and so forth to try to quell the rioting and the looting and the vandalism that was going on.

Well as his hour ended Laura Ingram comes on in the next hour I think it's nine o 'clock and she came on and for about a minute you know they they have a split screen and they kind of talked back and forth with one another and mostly about what was going on in Hannity's program but then

Laura she saw how upset he was and she said to him

Sean you need to read Psalm 91. I said whoa what what did she just say and and then

Hannity admitted he said well yeah he said I need that you know let not your heart be troubled advice you know kind of thing sheepishly you kind of said this.

Well then Laura pressed him and she said Hannity go read Psalm 91. She said

I read it today you need to go read it Psalm 91 and he agreed he would do that.

Well frankly I was quite a bit surprised by that. I don't watch a lot of news at least

I never did until all this craziness started a couple months ago with the so -called virus crisis and now the escalating violence in our country is you know

I try to catch up on what's going on you know about every night. But I can't recall ever ever hearing a news anchor on a network or cable news channel recommend the reading of the

Bible. I don't know maybe it was maybe it was seeing

President Trump you know going across the street from the White House to the church and standing out in front of that church and holding a

Bible maybe that inspired her but then again I mean I don't know these people very well but I do get the sense that especially you know both of them are have some kind of a faith background but nevertheless

I was pleased to hear the obviously troubled Sean Hannity admit that he needed to heed

Jesus counsel let not your heart be troubled and I guess the thing to pray when he brings that passage up that verse up that statement of Jesus I guess the thing to pray is that he would go to his

Bible and find that in John chapter 14 and keep reading because Jesus after he said let not your heart be troubled he he said that what he said next is actually the ultimate answer to a troubled soul he said believe in God believe also in me believe rest in trust put all your dependence and confidence in God the

Father and Jesus the only Savior well then

I hope that Hannity also read what Laura Ingram told him to read Psalm 91 have you read it lately we looked at that Psalm a couple of weeks ago on the

Daily Devotional Time and focused on it primarily because there's that that verse verse 10 in the

Psalm that says no plague shall come near your tent and we considered that and wondered is that a promise that we can claim in this virus crisis that you know godly

Christians who trust in the Lord will not get COVID and we concluded that that was not a legitimate application

I won't go into that and review it you can actually go back in the archive of saved devotionals if you want to try to find that but but the

Psalm the Psalm 91 is a powerfully comforting passage in the midst of all this chaotic upheaval if if the first couple of verses are true in your life let me remind you what they say

Psalm 91 verses 1 and 2 says he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the

Almighty I will say to the Lord my refuge and my fortress my

God in whom I trust now with that as a foundation the psalmist and and all who share his faith including you

I hope can confidently move on in this world and and face the challenges of everyday life of our everyday life in this world right now and we can do so in the face of an enemy that would entrap us of the terrors of the night or the weapons of the day these are some of the things that the psalmist mentions here in this song of natural disaster or devastating disease and you can do so because you know

God your refuge and fortress and you can know that he commands his angelic forces to protect you and to preserve you from anything that would harm you outside of his sovereign purpose for your life and I do want to do want to emphasize that caveat that there are harmful things that come upon the life of a

Christian and those who trust the Lord but never outside of God's providential plan and purpose for your life well the psalmist closes with this commitment that the

Lord makes to those who seek their refuge in him he says this the

Lord speaking says because he holds me fast holds fast to me in love

I will deliver him I will protect him because he knows my name when he calls to me

I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will rescue him and honor him with long life

I will satisfy him and show him my salvation I can't imagine what it must be like living in a modern newsroom like some of these news anchors do they're bombarded with you know bad news and crises from all over the world and especially wonder what it would be like in those newsrooms in these last five or six days but I can understand why someone who does have some kind of faith in in the

God of the Bible why they would turn to Psalm 91 when you see what's going on in Chicago and the

Chicago burbs Freeport Rockford Quad Cities listen let not your heart be troubled believe in God believe in Jesus and hold fast to your

God in loving trust and dependence I trust you'll do that and I trust that God will graciously encourage you and preserve your mind and your heart in these days of upheaval and turmoil and chaos all over our country let's pray and ask the do just that and so our

Father and our God may our trust be in you may you be our refuge our strength may we find shelter under your gracious wings this we pray in Jesus name